Quod Spectat Ad Abyssum
by Sin Maxwell and Co
Summary: Once, he gave all to save the life of the man he loved. Now Harry must give it all again to save his children. A vengeful spider lurks in the shadows. Will he once again have to depend on the once-mate who betrayed them? Will Sebastian be able to save them before Harry and his child are forever lost to him? Sequel to Abyssum Abyssus Invocat. Based on an alternate ending for part 1.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Guys...I'm so sorry this has taken THREE. FREAKING. YEARS. I have no excuses except...surgeries, I had a baby, service dog training, a youtube channel and four original novels since. BUT I'M BACK! So...good. Yes. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing. As usual.

 _NOTICE: This story is based on the first story having an alternate ending! More on that in the next chapter!_

 ** _Quod Spectat ad Abyssum_**

(The abyss stares back)

 **Chapter One**

" _ **When the head of the household isn't strong...wives wither. Children perish."-Criminal Minds**_

Nothing could have ever prepared me for this. For the fear and devastation. He was right there! One moment my child was lying in my arms, his one sapphire eyes looking up at me expectantly as he awaited the transformation that would make him mine in truth. The next, those eyes that I loved so much had faded into emptiness. Something had snuck in without us any the wiser and stolen my child's soul away. We searched every inch of the island for the perpetrator. I split the land in half with my rage, a deep scar on the earth itself. It was all in vain. I could feel the connection between Ciel and I stretching, stretching, stretching with the miles between us but there was no following, to my grief. So we went home. It was the only option left to us at the moment. Care for Ciel's body while we worked to find the soul it belonged to and the thief.

Phantomhive Manor was still and silent with our return Sebastian lay his Master down in bed, tucking the fragile boy in grimly like a fragile doll who may shatter with the slightest iota of pressure. Grief tore at my insides, split my soul in twain. My heart was broken.

First, I had lost my mate.

Now, I had lost my son.

Only a short time ago, we had defeated the Angel, Ash. Now a new enemy had reared it's ugly head. We stood in silence, two estranged parents, staring down at the child we had failed to protect. This was our fault. _This_...lay solely on our shoulders. The pain radiating throughout my chest was so intense that I barely even registered the smallest of contractions that reminded me of the second child under my care. My hand gripped my blossoming belly in agony and before I could think to stop them, the tears were pouring down my face, great sobs being torn from my chest. How could I do this without Ciel? Sebastian had left us and my little earl had been my rock, my calm in the storm. I needed him just as badly as he had needed me. What else could I do but crumble to my knees at his bedside, my head bowed?

Without him...I was adrift in a cruel sea of despair and uncertainty except this time, I was alone. Sebastian may as well have been a ghost for all I acknowledged him. Both hands reached up to grip his own tiny, pliant palm desperately and I wept.

'Please, please, just bring him back to me.' I plead with no one at all. The universe perhaps. After all, who answered the prayers of a demon?

How long could a body survive without it's soul? Days? Hours? At all? I would need to lay all manner of stasis charms and monitoring spells over my child to make sure his physical form didn't suffer. I would find him. I had to.

A tender hand lifted me from the floor and immediately I began to lash out. No! No, I would not be separated from him! Whoever took me from him could just go ahead and _die_! I clawed a deep gouge into the hand holding me only to realize that I wasn't being taken from Ciel's side, I was being laid down, tucked in beside him. My instincts rolled within me but I shoved them down brutally for the moment. Long enough to look up and meet the sad burnt umber eyes of my once-mate. The sight forced the sobs out of my chest anew. How had this happened? Two weeks ago, we had been so _happy._ Now look at us. Our child was soulless, Sebastian and I had broken our bond and he had lost his arm. How could our lives have fallen apart so much in a simple fourteen days?

Fourteen days ago, I was watching Tom leave to go back home.

Fourteen days ago, Ciel stood at my side with that tender, timid smile on his sweet face

Fourteen days ago...we had been a family.

~ _ **"Guilt isn't always a rational thing, Clio realized. Guilt is a weight that will crush you whether you deserve it or not." ― Maureen Johnson, Girl at Sea**_

Looking down at his tiny mate sobbing brokenhearted on the floor, the only thought that had any permanence in the tempestuous mind of Sebastian Michaelis was, "What have I done?'.

Sebastian's consciousness was a whirl of disbelief, guilt and impotent rage. He was entirely at fault for their current circumstances. Now that he had neglected to stop the capture of Ciel's soul...Samael would never take him back now. No amount of apologies would ever make up for the loss if they could not return his child to him. He had proven to be a failure as a mate and now this fragile family that they had created was falling apart. He had been the foundation for it, the strength behind the structure. But he had thoughtlessly, selfishly, torn that foundation out from beneath his mate's feet and left him to drown.

Did Harry regret coming to love him? Did he regret the child that even now approached its birth? Did Samael wish that they had never mated in the first place, that he had never offered Malphas his trust?

They had never even told each other 'I love you'.

Did Harry want to? Had he once wanted to at all? It seemed like such a _human_ thing to do but the demon found himself wishing to share the sentiment just the same. He knew that it had been said sincerely and often when Harry had shared his heart with the Dark Lord and wasn't that just a blow. Did Harry love _him_ , though? Did it even matter now?

No...but yes. It mattered to Sebastian. It mattered a great deal.

" _It would be a lie. I don't love you_ _..._ _I don't love you. I hate you."_

The words that Harry had spilled out just before he had allowed Sebastian to ease his breeding cycle pains bored into his mind like a drill. He didn't think he had ever felt this way for another creature and he was fairly certain that no other creature had ever felt such a thing for him. Silently, he moved to pick his beloved one off of the ground, struggling slightly with his one arm throwing the balance of the action nearly into awkwardness. Broken bond or not, he would give up his other arm before he let his pregnant mate kneel on the ground in such a state. Trying to scoop Samael up proved to be...difficult. He was hurt, pregnant, scared and, in the opinion of his indomitable instincts, mateless and undefended. Sebastian couldn't fault him for lashing out in fear. His child was injured and his instincts running on overdrive. When a sharp set of claws dug into his one good arm in an attempt to dislodge him, the demon took it in stride with barely a wince of pain. He deserved this censure, after all, this distrust. He had done nothing but earn it.

Ever so gently, Sebastian eased the harried, terrified form into the bed next to their comatose little lord, tucking them both in with all of the tenderness he could offer. And if his hand strayed for just a moment more on his unborn child, no one in any condition to comment on it was there to witness the display.

He was going to find whoever did this and skin them. Preferably to make a leather-hide baby bag for Samael. Maybe even shoes for Ciel. That would be an extremely satisfying end indeed and a very fitting gift, in his opinion.

~ _ **"Was it you or I who stumbled first? It does not matter. The one of us who finds the strength to get up first, must help the other." ― Vera Nazarian, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration**_

He had been loathe to leave his little love alone but it had to be done. Sebastian needed the chance to shed his human facade and find the thief responsible for his mate and soon-to-be-child's sorrow. Malphas was on the hunt. Gliding through the shadows like a unholy wraith, he sought out any trace of another demon in the Greater London area, for a demon it woul dhave had to be. No other species save those wretched angels, cared wit for human souls. His crows flew above, taking each a different direction to scour the city. It didn't take long for him to taste out one particular, seethingly familiar flavor of spirit.

'Orias. How delightful. I've been simply aching for a reason to rip him out of existence.' He raged inwardly, ice weighing down his soul with its cold fury.

That foul little spider had finally crossed the unforgivable line and this time, there would be no escaping the wrath of one vengeful demon Prince.

A/N: Just an introduction, I promise! I know it's short but I wanted to go ahead and get something out to you guys to help motivate myself. :) I expect my regular chapters to be around 3k or longer a piece.


	2. Chapter 2

A/n: Alright! Our first full length chapter! I'm so glad everyone enjoyed the first chapter! Expect to see our first glimpse of our dastardly spider in this chappie!

Disclaimer: I own nothing. As usual.

 _NOTICE: This story is based on the first story having an alternate ending! More on that in the next chapter!_

 _Quod Spectat ad Abyssum_

(The abyss stares back)

 **Chapter Two**

" ** _Weeping is not the same thing as crying. It takes your whole body to weep, and when it's over, you feel like you don't have any bones left to hold you up."_  
―Sarah Ockler**, **Twenty Boy Summer**

Trancy Manor was silent save for the sounds of rain pouring down from the heavens.

 _'The heavens..._ ' I scoffed bitterly. What had heaven ever done for me except scorn and try to kill me? Now Ash was destroyed but the city of London wasn't all that cursed angel had set ablaze. Nothing but cold ashes lay were our blooming love once had been. The bond between my mate and I was dead. Some days, I wished I were too. If we couldn't fix Ciel...

No. I couldn't let myself go there. Not here in the enemy's own territory. Ciel had been strong for me when I had been at my lowest and I had to try to be strong for him too.

Sebastian was keeping the Trancy heir busy upstairs while it was left to me to search for Ciel's soul in the depths of this wretched place. We had tracked him here though the ease with which we had located my little earl was...unsettling. There was the barest effort to disguise the sweet scent of my child's soul and little to no security at the manor. I could sense the auras of five different demons within and yet it had been deceptively simple to slip inside. Almost as if they wanted us to come. But why? To fight?

To steal away another demon's meal or offspring was tantamount to shouting war in their faces. This had to be personal. There was no other explanation for it. Though the thought had crossed my mind, I hadn't questioned Sebastian about it.

The pain was still too raw...Too near.

Just looking at him made me want to curl up inside myself and hide away from the sharp stab of betrayal and once love left to fester inside of me like a rotting wound. Ciel's soulless state only made the gaping abyss between us even more vast. I wanted to blame Sebastian even though I know he could have never predicted this. I wanted to lay my loss at his feet and beat him to death with it. Whenever I started to do it though, I saw this grim, acceptance, this resignation in his eyes corroding at the heart of who he was and I just...couldn't bring myself to do it. Part of me still loved him, damn him to hell for it. If that piece of me didn't exist somewhere inside of me, then it wouldn't be so agonizingly painful to catch his eye. To be in the same house and know that somewhere inside of that vast estate, he was there wanting me too.

It was too late for that though. Too late for apologies or making things right. Things between us could never be the same again.

The darkness of the cellar parted like the Red Sea under the power of my demonic sight. There was an almost preternatural silence here beneath the earth, like a breath being held before a scream. Not even the scurry of a mouse or the drip of water broke through the hush. It was as if even the rodents knew that a predator called this place home.

There was a smell, however.

Sweet, like honeysuckle and flower blooms on a summer day. It was a scent that called out to me and made my chest constrict with love and grief.

 _Ciel_.

My Ciel, my sweet one.

There he was, sitting up on a shelf, his soul cradled in the relative safety of a can of loose leaf Full Moon Drop. A spike of hot, righteous rage shot through me before I could stop it. How _dare_ they! How dare they put my son on the shelf in some dank basement like a forgotten can of vegetables! Someone was losing something important tonight, that was for sure!

I snatched the can off of the shelf, cradling it to me as if it were an infant. Inside...I could feel Ciel's young soul cry out to me, a child lifting their arms to beg for a mother's embrace.

"My, you are a far more pleasant sight than your mate upstairs."

The cool press of a blade against my skin sang at my throat and a strong arm came around just above the swell of my belly to hold me in place. I was pinned against a firm chest, alarm bells clanging painfully within my head. Momentarily, my vision swam and I cursed Sebastian for the pitiful state my body was in.

"He isn't my mate." I bit out furiously, the demon sheath within my palm already dropping my holly wand into my waiting fingers.

I could feel him smirk against my cheek as he tilted the knife in hand, seemingly enjoying the flash of the gold against my pale throat. Regrettably, my poor condition did not seem to go unnoticed.

"No, indeed he must not be. No self-respecting demon would see their breeding mate in such a sorry state. Why, you must be _starving_." Claude purred and I felt the coldness of glasses at the nape of my skull. Was he nuzzling me?!

"You must be Claude Faustus. I've never had the pleasure of your acquaintance." Faux formalities went right out of the window though when the man shoved his nose into the curve of my throat and inhaled as if I were some living aphrodisiac.

"I assure you, the _pleasure_ is all mine."

Alright, that was enough! Clutching Ciel's soul to me and noting Sebastian's aura's quick approach, I pointed my faithful wand backwards at where the demon would have been pressed against me and prayed to Merlin I didn't miss.

" _BOMBARDA_!"

The explosion shook the entirety of the manor and if Faustus had been expecting the magical attack that I leveled on his pelvis, no doubt we would not have made off so lightly. However, even as Sebastian and I escaped into the night with Ciel's soul in tow, rather than joy, a surge of uneasiness overtook me. Glancing back into the distance at Trancy Manor, I could see a tall, dark figure standing in the yard, watching our exit. Claude Faustus stood in the night and even from a distance I could make out the smirk on his face.

 __ _ **"When it's gone, you'll know what a gift love was. You'll suffer like this. So go back and fight to keep it."―**_ _ **Ian McEwan**_ _ **,**_ _ **Enduring Love**_ __

 __There was no taste as sweet as the satisfaction of prey taking bait laid out so delicately, drawing a butterfly into the waiting spider's grasp. And Harry Potter...He certainly had the beauty of a butterfly. It would be so very satisfying when I snatched him from Michaelis' life forever. My eyes watched them escape into the night and caught an anxious pair of emerald eyes glancing back at me. The smirk that slid across my face was entirely beyond my power to hide.

Yes, it would be so delicious when at last I could see Michaelis brought low as I stole away everything he loved. And his mate had rejected him. How marvelous. Whelping, unattached, weak and so very unprotected.

The night breeze carried the exhilarating scent of the fleeing beauty back to me and a shiver of delight sped down my spine. I would have Ciel Phantomhive's soul and own Michaelis' mate as well. We would see who of us was truly the more powerful when that wretched raven was pleading at my feet.

"Claude! Claude, you let them get away!" His 'master' raged, slapping a weak, pale hand against my chest.

A curl of disgust slid up within my chest. Alois Trancy had served his limited purpose for me now. He was pathetic. Needy and wholly dependent on my 'love'. Not even the weakened and pregnant Harry Potter was so helpless. No, those eyes had glared out at me with a tantalizing defiance. It would be a pleasure to possess him. Without another wasted word, I slapped the child away and watched with complete disinterest as he fell from the manor's roof, screaming, until he shattered on the cobblestones below.

Yes, a pleasure indeed.

 **"** **Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."** **―** **Martin Luther King Jr.** **,** **A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches**

Ciel's cobalt gaze opened groggily, as if he had been merely taking a long nap and my soul gave a shudder of agonized relief. He was here, he was back! My arms were not complete without him in them and when I finally, _finally_ was able to wrap him up within them, it was as if a piece of my heart was coming home. I didn't realize that I was sobbing like a hysterical loon until I felt the quiet chuckle against my shoulder.

"Harry, I'm okay...Really, I am." His small hands rubbed my back lightly and I was immediately aware of how knobby and thin my spine was through my skin. I felt as though I might crumble to ash and blow away with the lightest breath.

In the corner of the room, half hidden in shadows, Sebastian stood and watched our reunion with an expression of stone. There was no way to know what was on his mind but I liked to imagine that there was just the slightest relaxation to the slant of his shoulders, the barest softness to his eyes. But I turned from him, just as he had turned from us.

A hot meal for Ciel and a mug of cocoa later found us sitting together in the dimly lit study, the lone lamp casting a pale glow over the room. Very little had been said since Ciel's awakening and it seemed that now was the time for the young earl's questions to come spilling forth.

"What went wrong? Why am I not a demon?"

Sebastian and I caught one another's sideways glance before I broke the contact at once. There was something in his gaze that was raw and wounded, hidden away there and I simply couldn't bear to see it. Not after what had been done to me. To us.

"There was an interloper, Master, who...interrupted, one might say." The butler replied smoothly, giving the lightest, most solemn bow.

I fought not to snort in disgust over my own steaming cup of tea. As if he really cared. He only put up with Ciel's turning because I had whored myself to him. Maybe that's all it ever was to him. Just the chance to get what he wanted and nothing more. Perhaps...he had never cared about us to begin with. Were me and my baby just a means to an end for him?

But...

' _I stretched the hand that wasn't cradling my belly out towards him, a fond smile sliding over my face. He took in the expression as if he would commit the loving sight to memory, savor and examine it when no one else was around in the dead of the night. His gloved hand took mine with a near timid reluctance like he didn't trust the sudden magnanimity so soon after Tom's departure._

" _Be my mate?"_

 _The mix of emotion that suddenly shot through his eyes and dominated his face was all the reassurance I needed that I had made the right choice. I would have to thank Tom later. Shock, desire, wariness and most fetching of all,_ _ _hope__ _. Sebastian didn't dare take my word for it right off hand. Not after so many years of rejections and anger. Not after my beloved Voldemort had just spent the week with me. But...it was all of those things that made me realize that this, that Sebastian, was what I wanted with my unnaturally long life._

 _His hand in mine clenched, almost of a spasm of pent in emotion, but he pushed past it. As he kneeled in front of me, my hand still wrapped within his own, his smile was small but the feelings behind it were clear as day within his gaze. My knees felt weak at the stunning sight._

" _Nothing would please me more, my raven."_ '

The memory of that day, all of the soft, tender nights after that, few as they might have been, wavered between us and I felt the sting of tears behind my eyes.

How? How could I explain away what had happened? How could I make sense of it? One day we were happy and the next...he had been gone. But this wasn't the time or the place for it. Not when my little ones needed care and answers. Ciel _deserved_ answers.

"The demon who commandeered you, my lord, goes by the name of Claude Faustus. He is currently butler to the Trancy family head, Alois Trancy. I suspect he thought he would steal an easy meal-" Sebastian iterated, waving off the happening as if someone had simply splashed water upon his shoes by mistake. His outward expression was unconcerned but in his glowing ruby eyes there was rage.

He stopped short when I interrupted him as if he'd never been speaking at all.

"Did you notice that it was easy? Too easy? And when we were leaving, I saw him just standing there on the roof watching us go. He didn't look angry or upset. He looked...pleased."

The demon's eyes flashed with hate at the idea and Ciel sat up a little straighter in his chair, hot cocoa forgotten in his small hand.

"You think he let you escape on purpose." The earl's response was not a question. I nodded. "But why? What purpose would that serve? If he were going to let you escape anyways, why bother stealing my soul at all? If he truly wanted to eat me, he would have done so immediately, not placed me on a shelf to wait for rescue."

"Perhaps his aim was not to eat you at all, young master. What did Faustus gain by drawing us to him? By allowing us to escape?" Sebastian mused out loud.

Ciel's dark head bowed in silent contemplation and the surge of warm affection I felt for him rose in it's own sort of tide. My heart was an ocean and the tides therein sounded out a soothing flow of ' _love, love, love'_ , against the beaches of my spirit. Love was all that made my muscles move around my bones and air fill my lungs. It was all I had left.

"We'll have a better chance of figuring it out on some sleep, yeah? Ciel, off to bed with you. We can talk more in the morning." The young teen looked as if he might protest but at the affection in my eyes, he nodded with the faintest blush.

Sebastian put his young master to bed under my careful, razor sharp watch. My instincts still saw him as a rival male. A potential threat to my young. All I could remember on the inside when my demonic mind took hold was that he wasn't my mate and that he had hurt us. Logic didn't rule in those moments. No matter how much I told myself that Ciel was still Sebastian's master, when humanity folded away, reason meant nothing.

Ciel met the blessed relief of unconsciousness at last, leaving me and my sire standing silently in the darkness of the hallway. I stared out of the window at the moon, remembering a similar scenario seemingly a lifetime ago, back before betrayals and matings. Before everything went so...wrong. At last, Sebastian spoke. I wished he hadn't.

"I won't ask for your forgiveness because there's nothing in all of the planes that I could possibly do to deserve it. I have no right to ask for your trust again either. But know this, Samael. There is nothing that I will not defend and protect you, my young master and our child from. Please believe that." His whispers were like a soft breeze, imperceptible to a human ear.

A long moment of silence passed before I turned to meet his dim, ruby eyes. The thick swell of emotion between us, fury, hate, longing, broken love, regret, stretched on into eternity.

"Your protection has done all of us _so_ much good. Your protection is _meaningless_."

I left him there in the hallway, staring at my back in the darkness of the new moon.


End file.
